The Red Sox are in the middle of a difficult stretch of their schedule. Without even considering the opponent, they’re currently playing ten games in ten days. After that, they play 16 games in 16 days. Baseball season is inherently a grind, but this stretch in particular is testing the pitching staff’s stamina. Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett are at or near career highs in innings pitched. Patrick Sandoval is pitching for the first time in two years. Today, Ranger Suarez was activated to reinforce the group, but he did so without a rehab appearance, limiting his pitch count.
Suarez did his job, throwing four innings of shutout baseball. He was as sharp as ever, nibbling on the edges with each of his pitches, striking out six in the process. His velocity was down a smidge, but throwing hard isn’t in his vocabulary, so no need to sound the alarms. Despite Suarez’s effectiveness, Chad Tracy couldn’t afford to extend him, going to the bullpen after just four innings. Greg Weissert, Tyron Guerrero, Justin Slaten, and Ryan Watson combined for the final five innings to secure the 6-1 victory.
The victory didn’t look certain until the later innings, though. Ceddanne Rafaela singled home their first run in the third inning after a Carlos Narvaez sacrifice bunt to move the runner into scoring position. They grabbed two more in the fourth inning after Jarren Duran brought in two runs following a sacrifice bunt by Romy Gonzalez to move the runners over. With the score at 3-0 in the seventh inning, Jahmai Jones doubled off the fall to score two runs after, you guessed it, another sacrifice bunt from Narvaez to move the runners over. The sixth run was sacrifice-buntless as Wilyer Abreu doubled in Jones.
A win is a win, but during stretches like these, you’re playing for tomorrow, today. That’s why the seventh inning rally was so important. It allowed Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman to remain in the bullpen (although both warmed up), and keeps them fresh for tomorrow. Both high-leverage relievers have appeared in five games since the All-Star Break, tied for the most in baseball. Whitlock has thrown in 11 games in July, second-most in baseball this month. Keeping them fresh down the stretch is important to win tightly contested games in September and October.
Next stop: the final West Coast swing of the regular season for seven games against the Athletics and Dodgers.
Jahmai Jones (1-1, 2 RBI)
Pinch hitting is really, really difficult. As a whole, pinch hitters have a 30% strikeout rate and a .203 batting average this season. Jones entered the game in the seventh inning with two runners on base and doubled off the monster to add to the Red Sox’s lead and keep Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman out of the game.
Ranger Suarez (4 IP, 0 ER, 6 K)
Jarren Duran (3-4, 2 RBI)
By my count, Yoshida is the only player who didn’t reach base or sacrifice bunt. He’s the only dud today.
